Tyson Barrie would be a great addition, but a trade appears unlikely

Tyson Barrie would be a great addition, but a trade appears unlikely

– Rangers fans have been salivating over the possibility of trading for RFA Tyson Barrie from the Avalanche. He’d go a long way towards rebuilding the defense with more adept puck movers, but there’s going to be a long line of teams waiting to poach the 24-year-old PPQB from Colorado. New York might be able to entice the Avs with one of its RFA forwards, but the dream scenario is that Colorado might be dumb enough to accept one of the Blueshirts’ anchors as part of a package for Barrie. Unfortunately, TSN’s Bob McKenzie made it clear that the Avs know they need help on D, but don’t want to tie so much money up in one player. That would pretty much rule out Marc Staal or Dan Girardi. It’s not that the Avs don’t have cap space, but they’ve always been a budget team as opposed to a cap ceiling team, and Colorado must also re-sign RFA Nathan MacKinnon this summer without much significant money coming off the books. It’s hard to see a match here.

– The intricacies of the evolving expansion draft for the new team in Vegas next year have been fascinating. On the one hand, I completely understand why the league is so set on ensuring the new club has a strong pool of players to choose from and is competitive from the start. Even the most confident execs must have a little doubt in their minds as to whether Vegas can actually support a club over the long haul. But a successful team is a financially healthy team, so the league is understandably focused on giving its newest member the best chance at thriving out of the gate. On the other hand, Larry Brooks’ rightfully roasted the NHL for continuously stomping on its successful clubs that have abided by the CBA and are being punished for it. There’s no perfect solution to this quandary, but its implications are vast and will dictate much of the player movement this summer.

– Five years, $16.75 million for Casey Cizikas? What? I like the player, but $3.35m annually for a fourth-liner is a recipe for disaster. And not that the Islanders had much hope of keeping UFAs Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen anyway, but this is a really bizarre sign to send fans with those two popular players blowing in the wind.

– I think any beer league hockey player would agree that the hardest teams to play against are the fast ones. Granted, that’s exposed a little more in amateur leagues with out of shape has-beens, but it’s a pretty universal rule that suddenly seems evident and obvious in the NHL, too. Pittsburgh has blown past some very worthy opponents this postseason and it’s not necessarily because the Penguins are the most skilled group. Sure, having Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin helps – but it’s the supporting cast around those stars that opposing players simply can’t catch. The Penguins are on every loose puck and it’s not because their rivals are giving insufficient effort. Pittsburgh is just fundamentally quicker and it has proven to be a nightmare for opponents to deal with. The NHL is a copycat league and has transformed from the old clutch and grab days into a game of speed and skill quickly in recent years – Pittsburgh’s success will likely serve as an even bigger catalyst towards that trend.

– Pretty hilarious and very possible:

– Elliotte Friedman’s report on Andrew Ladd’s conversation with Tanner Glass about the chaos of free agency helped me sleep better at night this week:

“He said it was chaos…free agency hits, you get all these offers and everyone wants an answer right then. But it’s changed with the (week-before) window. It’s exciting to see what options will be available.”

So sure, the Rangers never should have signed Glass in the first place. But at least it now seems clear they weren’t bidding against themselves for his services.

– Curious to see who replaces Ulf Samuelsson as Alain Vigneault’s defensive assistant. Jeff Beukeboom seems like the obvious choice, but he also appears to be quite valuable in Hartford, where he helped Brady Skjei transition seamlessly to the NHL last year, developed Dylan McIlrath and is molding Ryan Graves into a keeper, too.

– I’m torn on the Panthers’ new sweaters. I actually think the new design is pretty sleek, despite its similarities to Euro soccer jerseys. That said, I’m a traditionalist on the jersey front and hate seeing old staples put out to pasture. These NHL logos reimagined as shields are pretty awesome though:


Question time:
1) Who do you want to replace Ulfie?
2) What do you think is a realistic offer for Barrie, and would you make that move?
3) Thoughts on the Panthers’ new jerseys?

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